Mirror KB Articles
about horses & horse care

There are as
many thoughts on how to handle and train a foal as there are horsemen
and women. Some prefer to
work with the foal on a daily basis, even starting within minutes after
the birth, while others are in favor of a minimum of handling, going as
far as little interaction until the horse is old enough to ride. Most however, fancy the middle ground.

The
Newborn in Safe Hands

The healthy newborn, once in control of its legs, looks strong
and robust, but rough handling or misguided techniques can cause the
little one serious injury or stress. However, you don't have to handle the youngster with kid gloves.
To limit stress, allow the foal access to the mare's milk
before you work with the foal and keep the mare as close as possible to
the foal during your training or handling sessions particularly for the
first fourteen days.

The
very young foal, or for that matter older foals that have not been
trained to halter, should never be restrained by the head using a halter
as we do with the adult horse. Neck
injuries can occur when the foal resists the unfamiliar confinement. When it is necessary to hold the newborn for short basic
procedures, the foal can be held by "cradling." This is accomplished by placing one hand across the chest of the
foal and the other around the rump. Grasping the tail will often steady even the liveliest foal but
be careful. The tailbone
can be broken or nerves damaged when aggressive force is used. Once you have the foal under control, an assistant can then
perform the required task. For
longer procedures, the foal can be placed on its side in a well-bedded stall. Always let the foal settle between activities.

Controlling
the foal away from a contained area can be a challenge. Outside a
familiar stall or paddock, the foal can become full of life and excited,
or even confused and run dangerously about. When you must move the newborn from one location on the farm to
another, the safest approach is with a harness that will effectively
control the mid-section rather than the head. Placing an adult halter upside down, attaching through the front
legs, and buckling under the thorax can quickly make a harness.

First
Lessons

Before you begin the time-honored training lessons, the foal
should be comfortable with being touched and rubbed all over. If you take the time to talk to and handle the youngster every
day until it will approach you with confidence, these lessons will come
easier. You can include an
introduction to the halter on your daily visits with the foal by sliding
the halter over the nose and sliding it off again several times. Once the foal is comfortable with the slipping of the halter on
and off, you can buckle the halter on, but don't try to use the halter
to lead the foal yet. Let
the foal wear the halter while you remain close-at-hand. Due to the high risk of injury, you never want to leave the
halter on the foal unattended.

Halter
Breaking

Because
the foal's attention span is limited, lessons should be taught during
the youngster's routine handling rather than within specific training
periods. "Some foals
you can barely get five minutes of work out of," says Erica Frei of
Jobi Farm in Milton, Wisconsin. "Others it seems, could go happily
for hours, but you don't want to wear out your foal with a work session
so keep it short and to the point." Halter breaking should never be rushed and learning speeds vary
so be patient with your youngsters.

One
of the older popular methods still in use today to teach the foal to
lead is the use of a butt rope. However,
many horsemen are moving toward a more natural way of training the foal. "The natural instinct of foals is to move into pressure.
When putting pressure on the rump with a butt rope,"
explains Frei, "the foal tends to lean into it and doesn't learn to
move forward confidently on its own."

It
may even surprise you that much of the training for halter can be done
prior to the actual haltering. Depending
on your mare, you can confine the pair in a small corral or allow the
mare to graze at pasture while you work with her foal. Ask the foal to "dance" with you by pressing with your
fingertips on selected pressure points (only a step or two is necessary
at first.) Move the
hips over, ask the foal to drop its head, pivot on the rear, or take a
step back. Guide the foal a
step or two in this manner then step back and ask the foal to come to
you.

By teaching the foal to move away from you as well as
with you and to drop its head when it feels pressure to the neck behind
the ears, you are educating the youngster in halter etiquette before you
even put the halter on.

When you are getting the responses you want, slip the halter on
and ask the foal at first to only turn its head by putting light
pressure on the lead. Remember
this is a dance not a fight. If
the foal begins to struggle against the pressure move with the foal
until it stops, then gently make your request again. When it gives you the response that you want, immediately release
the pressure.

"Always set your foal up for success," insists
Frei.
You will ask this of both directions several times. Then, still asking
for
movement to the side, you can ask the foal to take a step or two toward
you or away from you. Reward
the foal and let it settle before asking it to take another step.

As the foal begins to respond faster with more confidence, ask
for more steps. "Keep
asking the foal to move a step or two in one direction until you are
making a tight circle. Slowly
increase the size of the circle and soon you will be leading the foal
forward."